A new cancer-fighting drug , tested at the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Center, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The drug, named Afinitor, may help some patients with advanced kidney cancer live longer.

The phase III clinical trial, conducted at the Masonic Cancer Center and other facilities, showed Afinitor more than doubled the time without tumor growth or death from 1.9 months to 4.9 months. It also reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 67 percent.

Medical oncologist, Arkadiusz Dudek, M.D., led the clinical trial at the Masonic Cancer Center.

Dudek said, "It is an exciting drug because no other therapy has been shown to improve progression-free survival in this setting. It also is a pill taken by mouth so patients do not need to come to the clinic to get it, and it is well tolerated with few side effects."

Afinitor is one of a new class of cancer drugs that are able to target cancer without adversely affecting the rest of the body.

Drug manufacturer, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, sponsored the phase III clinical trial. It included 416 patients with advanced kidney cancer who did not respond to other drugs.

Kidney cancer is diagnosed in about 54,000 people each year in the United States; more than 600 of those people are Minnesotans.